New Soda Vending Machine Safety

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All new soda vending machines for sale are designed to prevent theft. However, there is nothing that can completely deter a person from attempting to steal products or money from a soda vending machine. Thus, each year, a few unlucky soda vending machine thieves are killed or injured when soda vending machines fall on them.

Soda vending machines are built so that the soft drinks are located in the upper half of the soda machine. This makes it possible for the drinks to easily fall into the soda vending machine dispensing slot. People attempting to get a free drink from a soda machine must reach far up into the soda machine to access the drinks. Therefore, many soda vending machine thieves choose to rock or shake the soda vending machine. This is where theft becomes dangerous. Since the products are placed high up in the soda vending machine, the weight distribution is uneven, and all soda vending machines have an unexpectedly high center of gravity. Thus, a soda vending machine may fall over after being tipped only 20 degrees. Large, fully loaded soda vending machines can weigh over 100 pounds, enough to kill a person.

In 1995, seven of the soda vending machine industry's leading manufacturers teamed up with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to prevent soda vending machine related accidents. The soda vending machine manufacturers and the CPSC launched an industry-wide warning label campaign. The purpose of the campaign was to alert soda vending machine consumers to the risk involved with rocking or tilting soda vending machines. In 1995 alone, the CPSC received reports of two soda vending machine consumer deaths and one serious injury resulting from a soda vending machine falling after being rocked. Between 1978 and 1995, there were at least 37 deaths and 113 injuries reported to the CPSC due to consumers rocking soda vending machines.

The soda vending machine manufacturers have all agreed to provide warning labels for all new soda vending machines for sale. They have also volunteered to make labels available for the approximately 1.7 million soda vending machines already on location. The soda vending machine warning labels say "Warning! Never rock or tilt. Soda vending machine can fall over and cause serious injury or death. Soda vending machine will not dispense free product." The soda vending machine labels also feature graphics illustrating that machines will tip when rocked. This industry-wide campaign is just one step that soda vending machine manufacturers are taking to secure the safety of soda vending machine patrons.